Welsh beaches are more than twice as dirty as the UK average with over 4,000 items of litter for every kilometre cleaned.

Marine Conservation Society warns the country’s beaches are becoming a “dumping ground” after volunteers collected a total of 50 bin bags of litter on Anglesey, Gwynedd and Denbighshire alone in a clean-up.

The Society’s report says the number of litter items found on beaches in Wales rose by 60% between 2012 and 2013.

Gill Bell, MCS Wales Programme Manager, said: “This is a shocking tide of litter which is threatening the safety of beach visitors both human and animal.

“It’s coming in from the sea, being blown from the land or simply being dumped and dropped.

“After 20 years of campaigning it’s disheartening that in 2013 we are seeing worse litter levels in Wales than ever before.”

She said that 2013 was a vintage year for finding strange things on UK beaches.

“The weirdest thing we found in Wales was half a TV on Ogmore beach. Elsewhere in the UK our volunteers found a French bullet-proof vest, a pack of bacon, a brass candlestick, some plastic bird feet, a birdcage and a set of dentures.”

Some of the rubbish which was found

These Beachwatch Report statistics are compiled every spring based on litter collections over a single weekend in the previous September. The survey is not scientific and depended on how many volunteers were available.

It was the 20th anniversary clean up at 25 beaches across Wales between September 20 and September 23. In all, there were 4,402 items of litter collected per kilometre surveyed – that’s almost double the national average.

A total of 30,954 pieces of rubbish were picked up by the 271 volunteers, which filled 174 bags.

Ms Bell added: “Plastic is a real issue for our oceans and beaches. This year we also picked up lots of lids and caps. However, despite it being a really warm summer, we saw less crisp, sweets and lolly wrappers and fewer plastic bottles.

“There’s continued good news though for sewage related debris. There’s still less of it about after we asked people in 2011 to stop flushing things down the loo that should go in the bin.”

MCS says urgent steps must be taken to reverse the rising tide of beach litter.

Anglesey County Council defended its record in keeping its beaches clean. Principal Tourism Officer Iwan Huws said: “In 2013, the island retained all six of its blue flag beaches.

“The council’s maritime section will continue to work with its partners to ensure that the high standards set by our beaches is maintained.”